FESTIVE FAKERY
All the FAKEST things in Christmas movies from The Holiday’s beloved cottage to Love Actually’s child star blunder
Christmas might never be the same again
CHRISTMAS is a time for gathering your loved ones together and settling down to watch a festive film.
But once you've discovered all the plot holes and fake blunders in these movies, you won't ever UNSEE them.
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From Home Alone to Love Actually and The Holiday, we unpick the nation's favourite Christmas flicks and lay bare the truth.
Hold on to your Santa hats....
Home Alone
Home Alone is arguably one of the most watched Christmas film's on the planet.
The story of Kevin McCallister being left behind in his sprawling home while his family head off to France for the holidays has captivated fans for decades.
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Released in 1990, it is as still as popular today as it was back then.
But unfortunately, there are some rather glaring plot holes in the film.
Kevin - played by Macaulay Culkin is just eight years old in Home Alone - yet his booby traps to catch local burglars Harry and Marv are military grade and would most certainly kill them.
Rather than picking up the phone and calling the police, Kevin - who appears to have had SAS training - instead swings tins of paint down the stairs, burns hands with a scolding door knob and lobs bags of concrete on the burglars.
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Harry loses his golden tooth thanks to the paint, but in real life the heavy tins are likely to have fractured his skull and seen him off.
There are also scenes of Harry's head being set on fire with a blow torch, Marv taking a crowbar to the chest and then being smacked in the face with a scolding iron.
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In reality, those pesky thieves would be leaving in body bags and Kevin would find himself in juvenile court on murder charges.
Most bizarrely though... has it ever crossed your mind that the police just send Kevin back to his home ALONE once they've arrested the still-alive Harry and Marv?
Love Actually
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Love Actually is the perfect movie to snuggle up to on a gloomy December night.
But once you look past the intertwined stories of love and heartbreak, not all is as it seems.
One of the sweetest plots in the film involves Sam, a school kid who is not only grieving the death of his mother, but is also in love with an American girl called Joanna.
In a bid to catch her eye and win her heart, Sam - played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster - quickly embarks on a crash course in drumming.
With just days to go until the school Christmas show, he can be seen drumming tirelessly away in his bedroom so he is ready for his big moment.
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However, in real life, there is no way 'self-taught' drummer Sam would have been capable of backing a future popstar in such a short space of time.
Thomas, 34, previously told Varsity that he actually had "weeks" of lessons from a professional drummer - his own dad.
He said: "My dad was a drummer, funnily enough in a punk band, and he was a bit of a punk rocker, so I sat in my grandad's basement – my dad set up his old drum kit – and for weeks we just listened to that song over and over and over and over, and of course it wasn’t Christmas - trying to get that intro.
"And funnily enough, I only got it on the day of filming.”
Miracle On 34th Street
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This classic Christmas film first hit the big screen in 1947, before it was remade in 1994.
Kris Kringle has been hired by the iconic New York department store Macy's to play Father Christmas during the festive season.
What follows is a dramatic court case, which sees Kris desperately trying to prove that he is in fact the real Santa Claus.
The case is held to determine Kris' mental health and, in addition of the help of a lawyer, he is also supported by a little girl called Susan and her mother.
However, while the original movie was based in Macy's flagship department store in Manhattan, the name had to be changed to Cole's for the 1994 revival.
In fact, Macy's declined to have any involvement with the remake, saying: "We feel the original stands on its own and could not be improved upon."
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As a result, only five days were spent filming in New York and the rest was shot in Chicago.
CF Cole's wasn't a department store at all. It was actually the Art Institute Of Chicago in disguise.
In the 1994 movie, Kris is also propositioned by a rival department store in Central Park Zoo.
However, these scenes were in fact shot at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo.
Elf
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Love it or hate it, Elf has definitely become a cult classic.
Starring Will Ferrell, the festive film follows the story of loveable North Pole elf, Buddy, who jets off to New York to track down his real dad.
But there was a whole lot of camera trickery going on in this 2003 Christmas flick.
In order to make Buddy seem much bigger than his fellow elves in scenes such as the classroom, two sets had to be used.
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Jon Favreau, the movie's director, told : "One set is raised and closer and smaller, and one is bigger and further away.
"And if you line up those two sets and measure them, you can have one person on one set appear to be much larger than a person on the other set. We did that for all the shots at the North Pole."
Jon added: "And if you look closely, you can see the two sets meet because we didn’t use CG to paint over that or blur it. I wanted it to have the same flaws that it would have had, to make the movie feel more timeless."
The Grinch
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The Grinch follows the story of the reclusive and grumpy green Grinch, whose main aim is to ruin Christmas for the residents of Whoville.
The movie, released in 2000, was based on an adaptation of Dr Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas and starred Jim Carey as the Grinch.
But, although on paper it is not an animation, not as much is as real as you may think.
Rather than shooting in a real village, Whoville is one big blend of CGI and real life.
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Some houses were built from scratch and covered in 120,000lbs of crushed marble to appear as snow, and a vast majority of the rest was created by computers.
That sleigh ride the Grinch and Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Momsen) take down Mt. Crumpit? It was all filmed on blue screen.
Most shocking, however, is the truth surrounding Max the dog.
Although real, Max was actually played by SIX different dogs. Mutts Kelly and Chip played Max for the majority of the stunts, but Topsy, Stella, Zelda, and Bo were also used for filming.
Nativity!
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In terms of fakery, the 2009 Brit flick Nativity! is actually very close to real life, as the vast majority of the script is improvised.
Martin Freeman, who plays primary school teacher Mr Maddens, previous revealed: "You get a character, you know who you are and what you’re trying to do in the scene, but nobody’s telling you what to say."
However, what is a VERY long way from truth is the countless number of safeguarding issues that go down at St Bernadettes; helped of course by Mr Maddens' goofy, wild and irresponsible teaching assistant Mr Poppy.
Mr Poppy is played by Marc Wootton and, if half of his and Mr Maddens' antics happened in a real British primary, it would be immediately shut down by Ofsted.
Lee Parkinson, a primary school teacher who goes by the name of Mr P on social media, said in his own review of Nativity: "Mr Poppy is quite honestly the worst TA I've ever seen in my life.
"At no point through the whole film does he actually help or assist the teacher."
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He added: "How Mr Maddens hasn't reported Mr Poppy for workplace bullying I'll never know.
"Constantly telling lies, constantly forcing him to do things he shouldn't do, just constantly undermining him in front of the children. Even going to his ex's parents' house and then telling lies about him as well."
And giving his opinion on the class' trip to the local maternity ward, Mr P told his followers: "How they go about doing a school trip, I'll never know.
"Like it doesn't take months of preparation and risk assessments and forms and permission slips all that jazz?
"And they end up going to an actual maternity ward. Can you imagine the letters of complaint?"
The Holiday
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Jude Law is now a staple of Christmas tradition thanks to The Holiday.
The Brit actor plays hunky Graham, who falls for his sister Iris' house-swap guest Amanda (Cameron Diaz), in the 2006 film.
Hot shot movie trailer director Amanda has swapped her huge Los Angeles mansion in the US for an idyllic cottage in Surrey, England, which is owned by Iris (Kate Winslet).
And one night, Amanda gets at knock at the old wooden door to find a very tipsy Graham standing there.
Despite the reality of a British December being gloomy days with drizzle and rain, Iris' cottage is covered in snow and looks the perfect countryside getaway at Christmas.
Set down a country track with views of rolling fields, it is no wonder Amanda wanted to jack in her clinical mansion for Christmas.
But if you want to pay Iris' cottage a visit, you're fresh out of luck - as the beautiful stone house doesn't actually exist.
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In a chat with Radio 2 DJ Zoe Ball and comedian Kerry Godliman, Jude Law revealed it is NOT somewhere you can hire via Airbnb.
Jude said: "That cottage doesn’t exist. Ohh yeah.
“So the director, she's a bit of a perfectionist, toured that whole area and didn't quite find the chocolate box cottage she was looking for.
“So she just hired a field and drew it and had someone build it."
To make matters worse, the interior wasn't even filmed in the UK.
He added: "Here's the funny thing, if you watch it.
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"So, we were shooting in the winter here. And every time I go in that door, we cut and we shot the interiors in LA about three months later.”
Jude apologised to Zoe, Kerry and their listeners for 'bursting the bubble'.
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